Happy Midsummer!

Not long after arriving in Sweden, I heard rumors about the celebration of Midsummer.  Most refer to this as the longest day of the year (but my husband would argue that all days are equally long) so let's call it the day with the most hours of light to make everyone happy!  Anyway, Midsummer is the biggest holiday here next to Christmas.  Needless to say, I very was excited when our family received an invitation to a Midsummer (aka Midsommar) party!

As the holiday approached, I was informed that it "always" rains on Midsummer's Eve...the day when most celebrations occurred.  Although this was not great news, at least my expectations were set appropriately.  We woke up on midsummer's eve and, as promised, it was raining.  As we packed up and headed to Marie and Henrik's house, things looked quite bleak.  

Don't worry- I'm not driving!

When we got to the party, the table was set beautifully (inside) and the first round of eating was about to begin.  I had heard stories of "traditional" midsummer fare, which includes eating sil (pickled herring) and drinking different types of schnapps (the Swedes call it 'snaps').   This spread did not disappoint!  There were several different types of sil and many small bottles of snaps (perhaps you need to drink some of the hard stuff to help get down the sil!)

I tried this one....

Snaps, anyone??

In addition to the traditional midsummer food and drink, we had the traditional midsummer drinking songs.  Our lovely hostess had printed out the song lyrics (there were several non-Swedish folks at the party), so that everyone could join in!  The children were in the adjoining room, trying to ignore the behavior of their parents!  

After lunch, we carpooled over to the next town to watch girls with flower wreaths on their heads dance around the maypole (another Midsummer tradition).  Yes, it was still raining, but a little rain doesn't stop the Swedes.   Or does it???   Much to our dismay, when we arrived at the celebration and got out of our cars, we discovered the celebration was cancelled....because of the rain. 

Now what??

So, we headed back to our friends' house and, of course, we needed to re-fuel!  Coffee was served along with a traditional strawberry cake and American style chocolate chunk cookies (yes, I made the cookies, and no, chocolate chips are not readily available in Sweden...so I improvised).  

Nils helping with the cake

A couple of the men built a small (but adequate) maypole while the girls (and my hubby) made flower wreaths for the girls to wear as crowns.   There seems to be many ideas as to what this midsummer pole symbolizes....you can do your own research on this one.  The fact that it's a "pole" may provide some insight into some of the theories.

Isn't it cute??

Jeff and Hanne are very focused on their wreath making!

After all of the wreaths were made, the girls had to show them off in this group photo.

What a pretty bunch! (the girls AND the flowers)

Believe it or not, the sun finally came out around 5:30 p.m.  One meal and one dessert down and one more meal to go, several of us decided that a nice long walk was in order!

Blue skies at last!

After enjoying some outdoor activities, Henrik fired up the grill as Fredrik made some Caipirinhas (a traditional Brazilian drink).  Since I was going to be the one driving home, I skipped the earlier snaps and enjoyed one of these as my "token" drink of the day.  Very good choice on my part!

YUMMY!

After the BBQ and one more dessert (and some candy, or "godis"as the kids call it), it was time to wrap it up.   I went searching for my girls and found that one had already called it a night!

Great couch you have here, Marie!

Our first Midsummer party was memorable and full of good food, great company and finally even a little bit of sunshine!

Ok.... I found one more thing that I have to share (hoping not to offend any of my Swedish friends).  This IKEA commercial (created by the Germans, banned in Sweden) is full of silly stereotypes of the Midsummer celebration.  It is too funny not to share....enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8I5BGsK5ZAU